Lawmakers are divided over Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to save state jobs by forcing those who have them to take 10 days of unpaid vacation over the next two years.
"Talking to state employees, they prefer furloughing to the permanent layoffs," said Sen. Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico, whose suburban Richmond district is home to 25,000 state workers.
But Del. Dave Nutter, R-Montgomery, an administrator at Virginia Tech, said savings from furloughs -- McDonnell estimates $181 million -- might be difficult to achieve because of the disparate responsibilities of employees and how they are paid.
For example, Nutter said, in higher education, some workers' positions are financed entirely with government funds, while the compensation of others -- such as top executives and researchers -- is largely derived from private grants or public dollars generated by special fees.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, said his panel's version of the state budget is not expected to include savings from furloughs. However, the Senate draft is likely to embrace them, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William.
The legislature's money committees will release their competing budgets Sunday afternoon.
The furloughs may be the most visible component of McDonnell's effort to prune the cost and size of Virginia's work force, which exceeds 100,000. Then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had proposed a single unpaid day to be taken the Friday before Memorial Day.
McDonnell also is proposing an additional 500 layoffs or more, reducing pensions for employees hired after July 1 and harvesting $612 million from the Virginia Retirement System by lopping state contributions to worker retirement accounts.
But McDonnell wants to scuttle Kaine's proposal that would require employees to make contributions toward their pensions.
The Virginia Governmental Employees Association, the state's largest public-worker group, with 18,000 members, criticized the furloughs as unfair because they would not apply to state troopers and prison guards.
"Furloughs must be applied equally across all employee classes," VGEA said in a written statement. The organization also said that it "cannot support any recommendation that combines furloughs with further layoffs."
Unpaid days off, or furloughs, have been adopted across the country by state and local governments and private businesses wrestling with the recession and its aftershocks.
Before McDonnell went public with the idea, members of the House Appropriations Committee and the chamber's Republican leadership told him their concerns about furloughs. They view them as difficult to administer and unlikely to generate sustained savings.
And in recommending that the legislature drain cash from the retirement system, which now manages about $48 billion in assets to support former state and local employees, McDonnell would increase the pension fund's future liability.
"It does dig the hole somewhat deeper," said VRS Executive Director Robert P. Schultze. Ultimately, the reduced contributions proposed by McDonnell will have to be made up in future budgets.
"It's not going to go away," said Schultze.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Michael Martz contributed to this report.
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